What is déjà-vu?

Wayne

New Member
Déjà vu is a strong sense of global familiarity that occurs in a seemingly novel situation. The familiarity experienced in déjà vu is global in that it seems as if the entire event--every detail--has happened before, despite the knowledge that the event is unique. The experience is frequently disconcerting and is often accompanied by a sense of unreality. Most people experience déjà vu at some point in their lives--surveys indicate that a majority of respondents have experienced at least one episode of déjà vu.

We don't yet have a definitive account of the mechanisms that produce déjà vu but a number of theoretical approaches have been advanced. Sigmund Freud, the developer of psychoanalysis, proposed that déjà vu happens when a person is spontaneously reminded of an unconscious fantasy. Because it is unconscious, the content of the fantasy is blocked from awareness, but the sense of familiarity leaks through and results in the déjà vu experience.

More recently déjà vu has been explained in terms of information processing. For instance, Herman Sno, one of the world's leading experts on the topic, has proposed that memories are stored in a format that is similar to that used to store holographic images. Most people think about holography as a way of creating cool 3D images and as an excuse to play with laser beams. But the aspect of holography that is central to Sno's thesis is how holograms store information. In particular, Sno points out that unlike traditional photography, each section of a hologram contains all the information needed to produce the entire picture. The smaller the section one uses, however, the less precise (and fuzzier) the resultant image becomes. According to Sno, human memory works in an analogous way. Déjà vu experiences occur when one’s current situation spuriously matches one of these fuzzy images of a past event. It's rather like convincing yourself that you recognize the person in a blurry security camera picture.

It is also possible to explain déjà vu in terms of global matching models of memory. According to these models, a situation can seem familiar for one of two reasons. It may seem familiar because it is extremely similar to a single event stored in memory. But a situation can also seem familiar if it is moderately similar to a large number of events stored in memory. For instance, imagine you are in an experiment in which you are shown pictures of various people in my family: my brothers John and Joe, my sisters Sharon, Linda and Judi, my parents Walter and Patricia, and so on. Now as you're walking out of the experiment you happen to bump into me. You might have the experience of seeing me and thinking to yourself, "Hey, that guy looks familiar." The reason for this is that although nobody in my family looks exactly like me (the poor devils) they all look somewhat like me and according to global matching models the similarity tends to summate. Some experiences of déjà vu could be explained in a similar way.

Progress toward understanding déjà vu has also been made in the neurosciences. In particular, researchers in both cognitive psychology and the neurosciences have distinguished between memories that are based on conscious recollection and memories that are based on familiarity. For instance, most people are able to consciously recollect their first kiss. They can mentally put themselves back into the context of that event (sigh). But we've also all had the experience of knowing we've met someone before, but not knowing quite where. The person is familiar but we can’t quite place them. Researchers believe that a memory system that includes the prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus mediates conscious recollection whereas a memory system that includes the parahippocampal gyrus and its cortical connections mediates feelings of familiarity. Josef Spatt has recently argued that déjà vu experiences occur when the parahippocampal gyrus and associated areas become temporarily activated in the presence of normal functioning in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus. This produces a strong feeling of familiarity but without the experience of conscious recollection.

As you can probably tell, there are a number of different theories attempting to explain déjà vu, but we don’t yet have a definitive answer as to which of those theories is correct. This is an area still ripe for explanation and continued research.

Namaste,

Wayne Fonseca
www.dreamlife.biz
"Do what you can, With what you have, Where you are"
 

Isa Marie

Banned
wowwww, K..e !!! :)

Amazing, very interesting article!!! thanks for sharing...I am always learning of you !! :)

After, you explain me better, yes? :)

Wish you a very good sleep guy....I know you are sleeping now !! :D

Peace and blessings !!
 

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Jampa

New Member
I "experienced" déjà vu a few times, and it was always quite unclear as to what exactly looked so familiar, but in one occasion it was both very weird and very clear...
Whenever I have a dream that feels like really real <G>, I write it down immediately with as much details as I can precisely remember. One morning I woke up remembering a strange dream, where I found myself in a place I had never been, a small entrance (hall?), I was facing a red stairway, the wall on one side was off-white and sky-blue on the other, and I could hear a man's voice talking... the only words I could clearly remember were: "Have you measured it/him (same word in French for both) yet?" and then "What will you do if you can't get it/him in?"... I did not know this man's voice, and I did not understand why I was standing there instead of being face-to-face with my interlocutor... I knew I was inside a house, but I knew no house that had such an entrance/hall, and the whole thing felt really weird...
Years later, we were moving to a 2 floors apartment inside an old farm. The new owners had renovated the part of the "building" that they meant to live in, and still had works to do in the part which they meant to rent out, but they had told us we could come whenever we pleased in order to bring in our furnitures and belongings gradually, prior to the "official" moving-in day... So, one Sunday, we filled the Plymouth with boxes and stuff and drove there. The entrance door was wide open, there was a smell of fresh paint... As soon as we passed the door, we heard: "Don't step on the plastic sheet, you'd get paint under your shoes... Then I saw a ladder, and our future new land-lord bent down to let us see his smiling face... then disappeared again... "So, are you bringing that sofa?" I remembered our last phone conversation, where I had mentioned that the only "worry" I had about the moving-in was with regards to a huge sofa that we had, which we could probably never manage to get in thru the door, and I was hoping it would fit thru the living-room's window... I answered "No" and I was starting to feel that "déjà vu" impression when he continued: "Have you measured it yet?" I said "No", and he said "What will you do if you can't get it in?".... Then I remembered my dream, most probably only because I had written it down... and understood why I could not see the man who was talking to me, and why one wall was blue and the other white... ;-) Now what I could not understand was why I had done such a weird dream, about a piece of furniture...!!! When we got back home, I took the notebook where I used to write down my dreams, and found out I had dreamed this more than 3 years earlier... the stairway was actually red... and we were actually able to get the sofa in, thru the window ;-)
We spent more than 8 years there, that's where we lived at the time of the birth of our Daughter, and the land-lords were truly wonderful people who are still our Friends... then I guess this moving was indeed "connected" with some important part of our lives... but do you think that Mr. Sno can explain this to me...? ;-)))

Would it be possible that all our "déjà vu" (French expression <G>) impressions/feelings only "originate" in *dreams* that we have forgotten about...? in other words, premonitory dreams...?

[Maybe scientists don't believe in premonitory dreams... and maybe that's a different subject... but maybe not ;-)]

Thank you for bringing this up, Wayne :)))
Can you help me, now that you have made me wonder about this again...? ;-)

Jampa
 

Wayne

New Member
Hi Jampa,

Dejavu is something that happen in the past that have not yet played out in reality. It is just an experience a by product for the God Source in us. It is a because God is not bounded by time and space and we are. That is why constant mediation will open up this kind of experience where your vibs starts to expand and you in line yourself with God and Nature. Continue to seek that spark in you and all shall be added.

Wayne Fonseca
www.dreamlife.biz
"Be still and know that I am God" - psalm 46.10
 

Jampa

New Member
Thanks for your reply, Wayne, but I am afraid I don't understand everything you wrote. In what past had this already happen? It had not happened, at the time I dreamed it.

With regards to what you wrote, I can imagine that God knew it would happen and had some reason to let me "fore-see" it - but then what was His "goal", in letting me "fore-see" it...?

"Déjà vu" means "already seen", literally/verbatim; in other words, it is something that you have seen before, in the (recent or remote) past.
How could one have "seen before" a place/site/whatever one has never been before...? Something similar happened to me when I went to California (for the first, and only time), and it happened in a place that I am 100% sure I could not have previously seen in a book or magazine - and I had never surfed the internet at that time <G>. Then in the 2 "cases" that I evoked here (and several others), if I had indeed "already seen" these places, it could only be in some kind of dream... Do you think God "sent" me those "dreams"/"visions"/whatever...? Should it be the case, what was His purpose...?
 

Wayne

New Member
Dejavu

Jampa said:
Thanks for your reply, Wayne, but I am afraid I don't understand everything you wrote. In what past had this already happen? It had not happened, at the time I dreamed it.

With regards to what you wrote, I can imagine that God knew it would happen and had some reason to let me "fore-see" it - but then what was His "goal", in letting me "fore-see" it...?

"Déjà vu" means "already seen", literally/verbatim; in other words, it is something that you have seen before, in the (recent or remote) past.
How could one have "seen before" a place/site/whatever one has never been before...? Something similar happened to me when I went to California (for the first, and only time), and it happened in a place that I am 100% sure I could not have previously seen in a book or magazine - and I had never surfed the internet at that time <G>. Then in the 2 "cases" that I evoked here (and several others), if I had indeed "already seen" these places, it could only be in some kind of dream... Do you think God "sent" me those "dreams"/"visions"/whatever...? Should it be the case, what was His purpose...?

Exactly as human we are on Psychological time when means we are bounce from past to future. Thoughts at a fundamental level manifest themselves into reality what you really want out of life you will get it only with intentions that are lined with the source. When we get Dejavu it is life that unfolds in every moment that is beyond time and space. Be in the “NOW” and you will know what Dejavu means. Words are limited. Example. If I were to tell you that iron is hot. You ask yourself what is hot? And you touch it and you get burn yes. Burn is also a word but the experience of that burning is real and you can only tell your kids that burn is as close as you can get to what your saying but until they touch it someday then only will they know what you truly meant.

It is only like saying to your wife or husband that you love them, but how does someone measure love. Only God knows what is truly in our hearts and our love to be in union with him. So Dejavu is a word the experience of it cannot be taught. The concept is there and you already know it. God is not bounded in Time and space. We are till we awaken and unite with the Father.

That is what all the prophets came to earth to do was to lead us back and submit to God. All teachings from every religions are leading us back to the source. But if you try to understand the religion on the level of the mind you will not see the perfection that God set before us, this oneness. How to know this truth seek first the Kingdom of heaven and all shall be added. That means take a step inwards and you will know.

Namaste,

Wayne Fonseca
www.dreamlife.biz
"Be still and know that I am God" - psalm 46.10
 

Jampa

New Member
I have my own, personal "understanding/comprehension" of these "déjà vu" experiences, and it does make sense in connection with my beliefs, but since my beliefs are quite "un-conventional", I am always interested in learning how others, with different beliefs, "comprehend" or "tackle" the subject...

I have no problem accepting what is "sent" to me, but I do not think we are supposed to simply "take" everything without trying to understand in/on(?) which purpose it was "sent"... maybe some people don't feel the need to understand (and I'm sure that's perfectly alright that they don't), but some do (and I believe that's just as much "alright")... Like I don't care to know how a computer "works", and my Husband does <G> - and I am thankful that he does <VBG>! - but neither of us is "wrong" or "right": we're just different... and I believe God doesn't mind ;-))) like I am sure He doesn't mind that I wish to understand why we have "premonitory dreams" and/or "déjà-vu" impressions/feelings... I could also think that if I am interested in understanding the purpose of these "experiences", that's because He wants me to understand them... for some reason...

Whether or not Mr. Sno and/or his peers ever manage to really define and/or understand what "déjà vu" is, one thing they certainly won't be able to demonstrate scientifically is whether God plays a role in it or not... and it is up to those who "experience" it to believe God is "behind" it or not... and whether or not He means to make us know what His purpose is, WRT "déjà vu".
I can see a variety of reasons why He could wish us to understand it... ;-)))
 

Jampa

New Member
Well, I sure believe in reincarnation and "remembrances" of past lives, and there might well be things that only "old souls" understand ;-)... but I doubt that past lives can "explain" *all* the déjà-vu experiences/impressions. Some of them, certainly (at least in my opinion <G>) and about these I don't really have any question.

As in my land-lord/new appartment/sofa <G> "story", I might have remembered the place or at least some of it (the farm had been built in the 17th century) and/or the land-lord (I sure felt like he was an old acquaintance <G>) but the sofa was younger <BG> than me, and I doubt they ever painted the hall-way in that kind of blue before my land-lord had that bright idea <LOL>.
So... there's just no way I could have remembered this whole "scene" from a past life.
 

zookie

New Member
Wayne you contradict yourself
You believe in the bible right? ie. Psalm on your signature
Well, there is no past life!
that is foolishness.
We have one life, that is it.

Sorry, i mean unless youre not christian, then fair enough
but what your saying is not christian

peace
 

Nick

The Writer
Well his wife was. She wrote majority of his Scripts uncredited. Hitchcock himself only wrote his earlier Films which were either dramatic or comedic. But I am sure he contributed something to the Scripts as she wrote them. It's just a shame she never wrote some long lost Thriller after his death. That would have been an appropriate tribute to the Master of Suspense.
 

Nick

The Writer
That's quite alright. Its not common knowledge in regards to Hitchcock. I just tend to dig up a lot of interesting facts and information etc. For example he was quite successful with the stock market. Apparently he made there more money there than any of his Films did or his salary for his Films etc I also read a lot about his Proposed Projects which he never sadly had a chance to finish. He was great what can I say. I seen majority of his Films and knowing there's still some I have makes me light up. It's always a rather sad feeling when you finish your favorite actors, directors etc filmography.
 
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